In a letter issued to chief secretaries of all states and union territories, the ministry has directed the new format to be implemented at the earliest so that data of road accidents for 2017 is compiled in the new format which is slated to bring in uniformity and will now comprise of 17 tables.

The ministry had constituted a committee comprising experts from IIT-Delhi, IIT-Kharagpur, World Health Organisation and senior officers from the police, transport and health departments.

The format covers a detailed account of time, date, location, police station, victims involved and information on impacting vehicles. The format has been segmented into five categories which will deliberate into accident identification details, road related details, vehicles involved in the accident, driver details and details of persons other than the driver involved in the accident.

Road features, which were earlier marked out for causes of accidents will be taken into notice while filing of accident reports. The police will also have to compile data of total number of accidents according to traffic controls, junction type and age of the impact vehicles.

The committee also included segregation of data according to type of victims – drivers, passengers, pedestrians and cyclists.Stay updated on the go with Times of India News[4] App.

Western Australia’s peak road transport industry body says supply routes are crumbling after years of maintenance neglect, with recent flooding events exacerbating the issue. Roads and bridges have been swept away across the state after one of the largest wet seasons in the Kimberley, with flooding events from the Goldfields down to the Great Southern. WA Road Transport Association executive officer Cam Dumesny said the heavy falls had worsened the already unkempt roads.

“Our roads, particularly the Great Eastern Highway, were already in a tragic state,” he said. “This water would just exacerbate this situation.” In June last year, the Auditor General found WA had an £845 million road maintenance backlog.

Mr Dumesny said the audit figure exposed that the major supply routes across WA were not being looked after. “We need to take it seriously. We have a supply chain or a logistic system in this state that has worked really well, but the problem is we have milked it fairly heavily,” he said.

“We have produced 40 per cent of our export income from the regions. If this is your most profitable machine you need to look after it.”

Mr Dumesny said the simple act of maintaining a road would put money back into the state’s economy.

“We produce 70 per cent of Australia’s gold, yet we are the second highest-cost gold producer in the world — one of the key drivers for that is our transport and logistics costs,” he said.

“The freight sector to our economy is critical and it is often unrecognised. We need a WA approach to strategic freight planning.”

Call for greater vision from leaders

Businesses in the Goldfields are also calling for a better vision for WA supply routes.

Kalgoorlie-Boulder Chamber of Commerce CEO Hugh Gallagher said that a new policy needed to be developed to help accommodate the current demands on major routes. “It’s very commonplace in this part of the region, and in the Midwest and Wheatbelt, for triple road trains to frequent our roads but we are not accounting for that in the policies that we have,” Mr Gallagher said. He said the WA section of the Great Eastern Highway, which links Perth to the eastern states, had become a dangerous road.

“We are getting bigger and bigger vehicles, but they are running on roads that were built many years ago for just day-to-day traffic,” Mr Gallagher said.

“So the fundamentals of the road transport in the regions are changing.”

He said improving and maintaining the major supply routes will help to boost WA’s economy. “All of these trucks that we are talking about, they are actually delivering dividends to Western Australia,” he said. “We need to look after industry so they can generate royalties for us and underpin the economy of Western Australia.

“Sometimes you do need to spend a quid to make a quid.”

Critical infrastructure washed away

In the East Kimberley, the wet season has once again washed away critical transport links. Halls Creek shire CEO Rodger Kerr-Newell said it had brought mines and cattle stations to a halt.

“For the last two months and counting, we have seen major gold producers like Newmont’s Granite Mine who haven’t been able to get their fuel. “We are seeing the same on the Tanami Road with the cattle stations, Ruby in particular.”

Mr Kerr-Newell said that they had been calling for the Tanami Road, which connects Halls Creek to Alice Springs, to be properly surfaced for more than two decades. “It was in a really good state about four months ago,” he said.

“Then it rains, it all washes away, and we spend a great deal of the taxpayers’ money getting it back to the state it was in.

“Then it rains again and it all washes away. It’s a never ending cycle.”

He said turning the road into an all-weather road would create an important tourism and supply link.

Opposition says road planning essential

Shadow transport spokesperson Rita Saffioti said a strategic freight plan was critical for Western Australia. “WA Labor believes sensible transport planning is essential in WA, particularly in the regions where transport is the lifeblood of communities and commerce,” she said.

“The effective movement of freight is a key driver of economic growth and opportunities in the regions.”

WA Transport Minister Bill Marmion said Main Roads was continuing to implement a long-term strategy to fix the state’s ageing road infrastructure. “This includes road resurfacing, new bridges and extensive maintenance,” he said.

Mr Marmion said the works included major projects that would rebuild large sections of the road network used by the freight industry.

Western Australia’s peak road transport industry body says supply routes are crumbling after years of maintenance neglect, with recent flooding events exacerbating the issue. Roads and bridges have been swept away across the state after one of the largest wet seasons in the Kimberley, with flooding events from the Goldfields down to the Great Southern. WA Road Transport Association executive officer Cam Dumesny said the heavy falls had worsened the already unkempt roads.

“Our roads, particularly the Great Eastern Highway, were already in a tragic state,” he said. “This water would just exacerbate this situation.” In June last year, the Auditor General found WA had an £845 million road maintenance backlog.

Mr Dumesny said the audit figure exposed that the major supply routes across WA were not being looked after. “We need to take it seriously. We have a supply chain or a logistic system in this state that has worked really well, but the problem is we have milked it fairly heavily,” he said.

“We have produced 40 per cent of our export income from the regions. If this is your most profitable machine you need to look after it.”

Mr Dumesny said the simple act of maintaining a road would put money back into the state’s economy.

“We produce 70 per cent of Australia’s gold, yet we are the second highest-cost gold producer in the world — one of the key drivers for that is our transport and logistics costs,” he said.

“The freight sector to our economy is critical and it is often unrecognised. We need a WA approach to strategic freight planning.”

Call for greater vision from leaders

Businesses in the Goldfields are also calling for a better vision for WA supply routes.

Kalgoorlie-Boulder Chamber of Commerce CEO Hugh Gallagher said that a new policy needed to be developed to help accommodate the current demands on major routes. “It’s very commonplace in this part of the region, and in the Midwest and Wheatbelt, for triple road trains to frequent our roads but we are not accounting for that in the policies that we have,” Mr Gallagher said. He said the WA section of the Great Eastern Highway, which links Perth to the eastern states, had become a dangerous road.

“We are getting bigger and bigger vehicles, but they are running on roads that were built many years ago for just day-to-day traffic,” Mr Gallagher said.

“So the fundamentals of the road transport in the regions are changing.”

He said improving and maintaining the major supply routes will help to boost WA’s economy. “All of these trucks that we are talking about, they are actually delivering dividends to Western Australia,” he said. “We need to look after industry so they can generate royalties for us and underpin the economy of Western Australia.

“Sometimes you do need to spend a quid to make a quid.”

Critical infrastructure washed away

In the East Kimberley, the wet season has once again washed away critical transport links. Halls Creek shire CEO Rodger Kerr-Newell said it had brought mines and cattle stations to a halt.

“For the last two months and counting, we have seen major gold producers like Newmont’s Granite Mine who haven’t been able to get their fuel. “We are seeing the same on the Tanami Road with the cattle stations, Ruby in particular.”

Mr Kerr-Newell said that they had been calling for the Tanami Road, which connects Halls Creek to Alice Springs, to be properly surfaced for more than two decades. “It was in a really good state about four months ago,” he said.

“Then it rains, it all washes away, and we spend a great deal of the taxpayers’ money getting it back to the state it was in.

“Then it rains again and it all washes away. It’s a never ending cycle.”

He said turning the road into an all-weather road would create an important tourism and supply link.

Opposition says road planning essential

Shadow transport spokesperson Rita Saffioti said a strategic freight plan was critical for Western Australia. “WA Labor believes sensible transport planning is essential in WA, particularly in the regions where transport is the lifeblood of communities and commerce,” she said.

“The effective movement of freight is a key driver of economic growth and opportunities in the regions.”

WA Transport Minister Bill Marmion said Main Roads was continuing to implement a long-term strategy to fix the state’s ageing road infrastructure. “This includes road resurfacing, new bridges and extensive maintenance,” he said.

Mr Marmion said the works included major projects that would rebuild large sections of the road network used by the freight industry.